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EUROPEAN 

OLIVE-TREE. 



AN ESSAY 

ON 

THE HISTORY AND CULTIVATION 

OF THE 

EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE. 



Quis divum aut hominum tam clari muneris auclo?. 

Passerath Oliva. 




PARIS : 
PRINTED BY L. T. CELLOT. 
4820, 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



The following article was written for 
the North American Sylva, at the re- 
quest of Mr. Mtchaux , for whom I seize 
Avith pleasure an occasion of expressing 
my esteem. 

I have consulted the most judicious 
ancient and modern works, Columella , 
Pliny, the Memoirs of the Academy of 
Marseilles, etc., and have myself ob- 
served the Olive in Provence. 



Paris, August, 1818. 



Augustus L. Hillhguse , 
Citizen of the United States. 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



I am induced to reprint this Essay by 
the hope of its practical utility — a hope 
encouraged by learned Naturalists who 
have visited the United States. 

I prefer leaving its faults to the reader's 
good nature ? to correcting them. 



Paris, October, 1820. 



A. L. 




I 



ESSAY 

ON THE 

EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE. 



Since the introduction of the Vine, the Olive 
seems principally wanting to complete the 
vegetable riches of the United States ; and, 
probably, it might be cultivated with success 
on some portion of their soil. 

The genus of the Olives, of which one 
species only is found in North America, is 
more diversified in the eastern hemisphere : 
fourteen species are mentioned by botanical 
writers , which are natives of the remote ex- 
tremities of the Old World. The Olea fra- 
grans grows in China and Japan : its flowers 
are impregnated with the sweetest odour, 
and are employed by the Chinese to perfume 
their tea. 

1 Olea Europe a. Foliis lanceolatis , integerrimis ; 
race mis paniculatis. 

DlAKDRIA MONOGYNIA , Lin, JASMINES , Jus. 

I 



( 2 ) 

But none of these species forms an object 
of great importance in the rural economy of 
the regions to which they are indigenous, 
nor does their introduction promise very 
beneficial fruits to the agriculture of other 
countries. It is far otherwise with the Euro- 
pean Olive. This ornament of the vegetable 
kingdom , which is called by Columella the 
first among trees, has constituted, from the 
remotest antiquity, the pride of some of the 
most celebrated regions of the globe ; and, 
besides the commercial value of its products, 
it is invested, both by sacred and profane his- 
tory, with a thousand interesting associations. 

It is difficult, or rather impossible, to as- 
sign with precision the native climate of the 
Olive : the most probable opinion is that it 
came originally from Asia Minor, and that it 
was also indigenous to Egypt, or introduced 
into that country at an early period of its 
settlement. It was transplanted to Greece by 
the Egyptian colonies ; the Phenicians pro- 
bably carried it to Carthage, and the Cartha- 
ginians to Spain. Before its introduction into 
Spain, the Phenicians maintained a lucrative 
trade with the Spaniards in oil , which they 



( 3 ) 

exchanged for bars of gold. Pliny informs us 
that this culture was unknown in Spain and 
Italy in the reign of Tarquinius Prise us, but 
that when once introduced it was rapidly dif- 
fused. The Olive was planted in France by 
the Phocean colony which founded Mar- 
seilles , six hundred years before Christ. 

The Athenians held the Olive in such es- 
teem, that they ascribed its production to 
their tutelary deity. This beneficent miracle, 
which is retraced in the monuments of 
Athens, is differently represented by ancient 
authors ; it is thus agreeably related by Apol- 
lodorus Alheniensis : In the reign of Ce crops 
leave was first given to the Gods to assume 
the patronage of cities , in which they might 
appropriate to themselves peculiar honours. 
Upon which Neptune came into Attica, and, 
standing in the middle of the citadel , smote 
the earth with his trident, and caused the sea 
to flow at his feet. After him appeared Mi- 
nerva , who, calling Cecrops to be a witness 
of what she was about to perform , caused an 
Olive -Tree to spring from the ground. A 
contention hence arose between these divi- 
nities, to appease which Jupiter appointed 

i. 



( 4 ) 

the twelve Gods to be judges of the dispute; 
by whom, on the testimony of Cecrops, it 
was decided in favour of Minerva. The God- 
dess, thus become tutelar divinity of the city, 
called it after her own name , and Neptune, 
irritated by his defeat , inundated all Attica 
to revenge the affront. 

The Olive has flourished chiefly on the 
shores of the Mediterranean Sea, between 
the thirty-sixth and the forty-fourth degrees 
of latitude. It still abounds in Greece : in the 
northern provinces it requires to be placed 
on hill sides exposed to the south, that it may 
be warmed by the reflected heat; but in At- 
tica the climate, as well as the soil and face 
of the country, is peculiarly favourable to its 
growth. Near the foot of the mountains , the 
Olives form vast curtains of a pale green, 
which is agreeably contrasted with the deeper 
verdure of the meadows beneath, and with 
the dusky grey of the rocks above. 1 The beau- 
tiful plain of Athens, as seen towards the 
north-west from Mount II y melius , appears 
entirely covered with them. 2 The wild Olive 

1 See Beaujour's Commerce of Greece, 

2 See Oliyier's Travels. 



($) 

grows upon the mountains with the Pine and 
the Oak , and the cultivated varieties are 
reared about the villages with the Fig-Tree 
and the Pomegranate-Tree. 1 

The produce of the soil is said to be one 
third greater when planted with Olives, than 
under any other species of culture ; and oil is 
the principal article of commerce which af- 
fords the Athenians the enjoyments of life 
and the means of paying their taxes. 

But the industry of the Greeks languishes 
beneath a despotism restricted to no forms, 
and tempered by no public opinion , whose 
extemporaneous oppression it is impossible, 
by the most ingenious calculations , to elude. 
In ancient Athens a premium was given for 
the multiplication of the Olive, and severe 
penalties were inflicted upon proprietors 
who destroyed it on their own estates. The 
Turks, on the contrary, subject it to a re- 
turn of one tenth, to which is added a tax 
of a para for each tree, imposed by Sultan 
Selim III. To avoid the exactions to which he 
is a prey, the unhappy Athenian peasant frc- 



1 See Beaujour's Commerce of Greece. 



( 6 ) 

quently prefers cutting down his Olives, or 
selling them at a price unequal to the value 
of their annual produce. 

The wild Olive is common on the islands 
of the Propontis and on the declivities slop- 
ing to the sea upon the Asiatic side of the 
Hellespont. 

Perhaps one of the finest countries of the 
world is the Persian provinces of Ghilan 
and Mazenderan, which lie north of the Cas- 
pian Mountains, between the thirty-seventh 
and the thirty-eighth degrees of latitude. The 
soil is fertile and watered by innumerable 
streams that gush from the bosom of those 
mountains : the surface is even, and, from 
the depression of the level, and from the 
proximity of the Caspian Sea, the climate is 
mild and equable. The Olive is found there 
with the Sugar-cane , the Orange-Tree , and 
other productions of warm climates , which 
do not flourish in the more southern parts of 
this dry and sterile kingdom. 

In Syria the Olive grows spontaneously ; 
but it is rare, and its cultivation is neglected. 
The natural advantages of a country formed 
to be the seat of the richest and most power- 



( 7 ) 

ful empire of Asia , are lost in the absence of 
an industrious and enlightened population. 
The slothful and improvident habits of the 
Turks themselves, and the paralysing in- 
fluence of their government, are particularly 
unfavourable to a culture whose fruits are 
tardy, and which therefore requires to be 
encouraged by the security of property. The 
Island of Candia produces great quantities of 
oil, and Mytilene or Lesbos exports pickled 
olives. Several other islands of the Archipe- 
lago share in this commerce. 

In Egypt a few stocks of the Olive are seen 
in almost every village ; but it is not exten- 
sively multiplied, nor regarded as one of the 
resources of agricul ture. Oil is made in seve- 
ral of the Barbary States , and Desfontaincs 
found the wild Olive abundant on Mount 
Atlas. 

But the. greatest variety of Olives, the most 
judicious culture, and the most perfect me- 
thod of extracting the oil and of preserving 
the fruit, are found in Italy, France and Spain. 
Bostica, or that part of Spain which lies be- 
tween the Guadalquiver and the sea, is men- 
' tioned by Columella as a country eminently 



C 8 ) 

adapted to the Olive? and with a more intel- 
ligent husbandry it might again become, as it 
was in the age of Cicero , the admiration of 
Europe. 

France is divided by agricultural writers 
into zones, each of which is named after one 
of its important vegetable productions, and 
bounded towards the north by the line at 
which this production ceases to flourish. The 
Abbe Hozier makes four of these zones, suc- 
ceeding each other from south to north in the 
following order : that of the Orange-Tree, 
which ceases at Ouliolles, near Toulon ; that 
of the Olive , which extends to Carcassonne , 
and of which Msmes may be taken as the ex « 
treme boundary; that of the Vine , and that 
of the Apple-Tree. In travelling from Tou- 
louse to the shore of the Mediterranean, 
along the canal of Languedoc, I first observed 
the Olive at a little distance from Carcas- 
sonne ; but it appeared to have ventured 
thither only upon trial, and from the size of 
the trees I judged them to be a recent settle- 
ment. About Beziers , Montpellier, Aix, etc., 
the hills in every direction are covered with 
Olives. 



(9) 

Thus we see that this inestimable produc- 
tion has been widely diffused by the bounti- 
ful hand of Nature. 

The beauty of the Olive is far from corres- 
ponding to its intrinsic value. It varies in size 
according to the soil and climate in which it 
grows; and in France the temperature is not 
warm enough for its perfect developement. 
Pliny says that in Spain it was one of the 
largest trees : IS on alia major in Boetica 
arbor. On Mount Atlas , Dcsfontaines saw 
Wild Olives from forty-five to sixty feet in 
height ; and Beaujour compares the Olives of 
the plains of Marathon to the finest Walnuts, 
for stature and expansion. Lofty Olives arc 
still seen in the Island of Corfu , shading the 
spot where they once enriched the gardens 
of Alcinous. 

In the olive -yards of France these trees 
are generally from eighteen to twenty feet 
in height, and from six inches to two feet in 
diameter. About Aix, Montpellier, etc., they 
are kept low, partly by the disasters to which 
they are exposed from cold , and partly by 
the care of the cultivator, to facilitate the 
gathering of the fruit. They ramify at a small 



r 



( » ) 

height, and form a compact and rounded 
summit. The open, coriaceous foliage is of a 
pale, impoverished verdure, and the general 
appearance of the tree is not unlike that of a 
common Willow which has been lopped, and 
which has acquired a new summit of three 
or four years' growth. 

Indeed the Olive possesses neither the ma- 
jesty of forest- trees, nor the gracefulness of 
shrubbery. It clothes the hills without adorn- 
ing them, and, considered as an accident of 
the landscape, it does not charge the picture 
sufficiently to contribute greatly to its beauty. 
The rich culture for which the southern pro- 
vinces of France are celebrated, is less con- 
ducive to rural beauty than some of the 
humbler species of husbandry. The richest 
country is not always the most lovely : a 
country of mines, for example, is usually un- 
gracious to the eye ; and the Olive is called by 
an Italian writer, a mine upon the surface of 
the earth. 

This tree is remarkable for its longevity : 
the ancients limited its existence to two hun- 
dred years ; but modern authors assert that, 
in climates suited to its constitution, it sur~ 



( » ) 

vives its fifth century/ Relations are made of 
the bulk of some of these patriarchal trees, 
too surprising to be repeated unless they 
were perfectly authenticated ; but in France 
there are Olives which two men can hardly 
compass in their arms. 

The main limbs of the Olive are numer- 
ously divided ; the branches are opposite , 
and the pairs are alternately placed upon 
conjugate axes of the limb. The foliage is 
evergreen , but a part of it turns yellow and 
falls in the summer, and in three years it is 
completely renewed. In the spring or early 
autumn, the seasons when vegetation is in its 
greatest activity, the young leaves come out 
immediately above the cicatrice of the former 
petioles, and are distinguished by their sup- 
pleness and by the freshness of their tint. 

The colour of the leaves varies in different 
varieties of the Olive, but they are generally 
smooth and of a light green above , whitish 
and somewhat downy with a prominent rib 
beneath. On most of the cultivated varieties 

1 The monks of Jerusalem affirm that the Olives of the 
garden of Gethsemane are the same which witnessed the 
agony of Christ, 



( 12 ) 

they are from fifteen to twenty-four lines 
long , and from six to twelve lines broad , 
lanceolate, entire, nearly sessile, opposite 
and alternate 1 in the manner of the branches. 

The Olive is slow in blooming , as well as 
in every function of vegetable life. The buds 
begin to appear about the middle of April , 
and the bloom is not full before the end of 
May or the beginning of June. The flow ers 
are small, white, slightly odoriferous, and 
disposed in axillary racemes or clusters. A 
peduncle about as long as the leaf issues from 
its base , upon which the flowers are sup- 
ported by secondary pedicles , like those of 
the common Currant. Sometimes the clusters 
are almost as numerous as the leaves, and 
garnish the tree with wanton luxuriance ; at 
others, they are thinly scattered over the 
branches, or seen only at their extremity. It 
is essential to remark that they are borne by 
the shoots of the preceding year. Each flower 
is complete in itself, consisting of a calyx, a 
monopetalous corolla divided into four lobes, 
and of the organs of reproduction , namely, 
two stamina and one pistil. 

1 Folia decussata is the botanical phrase. 



( i3 ) 

i A week after the expanding of the flower, 
the corolla fades and falls. If the calyx 
remains behind, a* favourable presage is 
formed of the fruitfulness of the season ; 
but the hopes of the husbandman are lia- 
ble to be blasted at this period by the 
slightest in tempera teness of the elements, 
which causes the germ to fall with the 
flower. Warm weather, accompanied by- 
gentle breezes, that agitate the tree and 
facilitate the fecundation , is the most pro- 
pitious to his vows. 

The fruit of the Olive is called by bo- 
tanists a drupe : it is composed of pulpy 
matter enveloping a stone, or ligneous shell 
containing a kernel. The olive is ovate , 
pointed at the extremity , from six to ten 
lines in diameter in one direction, and 
from ten to fifteen lines in the other : on 
the wild tr.ee it hardly exceeds the size of 
the red currant. The skin is smooth , and , 
when ripe , of a violet colour ; but in cer- 
tain varieties it is yellowish or red. The 
pulp is greenish, and the stone is oblong, 
pointed, and divided into two cells, one 



( i4 ) 

of which is usually void. 1 The oil of the olive 
is furnished by the pulp , which is a charac- 
teristic almost peculiar fo this fruit : in other 
oleaginous vegetables it is extracted from the 
seed. The young olive sets in June , increases 
in size and remains green through the sum- 
mer, begins to change colour early in Octo- 
ber, and is ripe at the end of November or 
in the beginning of December. On the wild 
Olive five or six drupes are ripened upon 
each peduncle ; but on the cultivated tree a 
great part of the flowers are abortive , and 
the green fruit is cast at every stage of its 
growth ; so that rarely more than one or two 
germs upon a cluster arrive at maturity. 

It has been observed from early antiquity 
that the produce of the Olive is alternate ; and 
in France it is proverbially said to labour one 
year for itself, and one year for its owner. 
The cause of this phenomenon will be men- 
tioned hereafter. It is asserted that the wild 
Olives are sometimes barren ; but these must 
be trees that have sprung from stones drop- 

1 Semen unum scepe abortimm. De Jussfeu. 



( i5 ) 

ped upon arid rocks , in whose crevices the 
roots barely find nourishment enough to sus- 
tain the abject existence of the plant. 

On the branches of the Olive , and on the 
trunk of the young tree, the bark is smooth 
and of an ashy hue. When the epidermis is 
removed, the cellular integument appears of 
a light green. On old trees the bark upon the 
trunk and upon the base of the principal 
limbs is brown, rough and deeply furrowed. 
In the spring and autumn , when the sap is 
in motion, the bark is easily detached from 
the body of the tree. 

The wood is heavy, compact, fine-grained 
and brilliant. The alburnum is white and 
soft, and the perfect wood is hard, brittle, 
and of a reddish tin|t, with the pith nearly 
effaced, as in the Box. It is employed by 
cabinet-makers to inlay the finer species of 
wood which are contrasted with it in colour, 
and to form light, ornamental articles, such 
as dressing-cases, tobacco-boxes, etc. The 
wood of the roots, which is more agreeably 
marbled , is preferred. The Olive was classed 
by the ancients among the hard and durable 
species of wood, such as the Ebony, the 



( 16 } 

Cedar, the Box and the Lotus. On account of 
its hardness it was used for the hinges of 
doors; and before metal became common in 
statuary, it was selected by the Greeks for 
the images of their Gods. Three statues of 
Minerva were preserved in the citadel of 
Athens , which exemplified the progress of 
this exquisite art : the first, made of olive 
wood, and of rude workmanship, was said 
to have fallen from heaven; the second, of 
bronze , was consecrated after the victory of 
Marathon ; the third, of gold and ivory, w as 
one of the miracles of the age of Pericles. 1 

From its resinous and oleaginous nature, 
the olive wood is eminently combustible, and 
burns as well before as after it is dried. The 
value of its fruit renders this property unim- 
portant ; but after the severe winter of 1709, 
which proved fatal to the Olives throughout 
Languedoc and Provence, the country was 
warmed for a considerable time with this 
precious wood. 

The Olive accommodates itself to almost 
every variety of soil ; but it shuns a redun- 



1 See Barthelemy. 



( '7 ) 

dancy of moisture, and prefers loose, calca- 
rious, fertile lands mingled with stones, such 
as the territory of Attica and of the south of 
France. The quality of its fruit is essentially 
affected hy that of the soil : it succeeds in 
good loanis which arc capable of bearing 
corn, but on fat lands it yields oil of an in- 
ferior flavour, and becomes laden with a bar- 
ren exuberance of leaves and branches. The 
temperature of the climate is a consideration 
of more importance than the nature of the 
soil, as all the varieties of the Olive dread 
the extremes both of heat and cold, Neither 
do they delight in very low, nor in very ele- 
vated situations , but rather in gentle declivi- 
ties, with an exposure adapted to the climate, 
where the fresh breezes , playing among 
the branches, may contribute to the health 
of the tree, and to the fineness of the fruit. 

Notwithstanding the delicacy of its com- 
plexion, the Olive is extremely tenacious of 
life. When the trunk has perished by frost or 
by fire , it sprouts anew ; and we are assured 
that if a bit of the bark, with a thin layer of 
wood, is buried in the earth , it becomes a 
perfect plant. 

2 



( i8 ) 

In this respect the Olive is the polypus of 
vegetables. It is multiplied by all the modes 
that are in use for the propagation of trees : 
by sowing the seed , by layers , by slips , by 
cuttings of the root , and by sprouts sepa- 
rated from the trunk or from the roots of 
the parent stock. The most obvious method , 
that of forming nurseries from the seed, is 
generally censured in books , and rejected in 
practice ; the difficulty of obtaining the young 
plants, and the length of time which must 
elapse before they begin to reward the la- 
bour of the husbandman, have discouraged 
its adoption. But if these objections could be 
obviated, it is doubtless the most eligible 
practice : as the plants thus reared begin a 
new life , they are more vigorous and of 
longer duration than off-setts from an old 
tree; they form also a perpendicular root, 
which penetrates deeply, and secures them 
from the danger of suffering by drought. 

In most of the experiments that have been 
made of this method, the fruit has been sown 
entire; and this is even enjoined, as a neces- 
sary precaution. But, however it may seem 
to be indicated by Nature , such is not her 



( '9 ) 

own process. The stones which produce the 
wild Olives are deposited by animals that 
digest the pulp, or by birds that carry away 
the fruit in their beaks, devour the pulp, and 
leave the stones to take their chance with the 
elements. The principles of vegetable physio- 
logy, also, support the conclusions derived 
from these observations : 1 the pulp not only 
invites the depredations of animals such as 
field-mice, pies, etc. ; but this oily envelope, 
by preserving the shell from moisture, pre- 
vents its decaying in season for the germina- 
tion of the kernel , which , in the meantime, 
becomes rancid and loses its fecundity. 

Ripe fruit of the finest varieties is selected, 
(that of the Gros Ribies is the best;, and the 
stones, after being separated from the pulp, 
are cleansed in an alkaline solution. A shel- 
tered situation is chosen, where the earth is 
thoroughly loosened to the depth of three 
feet, and enriched with the warmest ma- 
nures. In the month of March the stones are 
sown , at a small distance apart , in trenches 

1 See De Saussure's Chemical Researches on Vegeta- 
tion. 

2. 



( 20 ) 

two or three inches deep , and covered with 
earth. The soil should be kept free from 
herbage, and occasionally watered during 
the summer. The young plants appear in 
October, and continue to vegetate through 
the winter. By the following spring, the most 
thriving among them will have attained the 
height of thirty inches. The feebler stocks 
should now be eradicated. With proper at- 
tention, and in a favourable soil, the remain- 
der will be four or five feet high, and six or 
seven lines in diameter, in the course of the 
third spring, with a perpendicular root of 
thirty inches. This is the season for trans- 
planting them. Great care should be bes- 
towed upon the preparation of the ground, 
and the young plants should be placed three 
feet apart. After two years they will be suffi- 
ciently advanced to be grafted; and at the 
end of five years they may be transplanted 
to the olive-yard. 

To accelerate the germination, the stones 
may be kept in fine mould during the summer 
and autumn, and sown in the beginning of 
January. They soon begin to vegetate , and 
before the following w inter the young stocks 



( 21 ) 

acquire strength enough to support its ri- 
gours , while the tender plant that comes up 
in October, is in danger of suffering by the 
lightest hoar-frost. Perhaps some advantage 
would be found in reducing the thickness of 
the shell before it is committed to the ground, 
in order to expose the germ more speedily 
to the influence of those agents which are 
necessary to its expansion. 

Every mode of grafting is successfully 
practised on the Olive : the most common, 
and the most proper for young stocks, is 
that of inoculation. The operation should be 
performed in May, while the juices are in 
active circulation. Different opinions prevail 
respecting the insertion of the graft above 
or below the surface of the ground : grafting 
below the surface is attended with this ad- 
vantage, that, when the trunk is destroyed > 
a generous progeny springs from its base. 

A few stocks should be left to form new 
varieties. Fruit trees and flowers lose in re- 
production, the properties which they had 
acquired by culture, and tend anew to the 
state of nature ; but, in a great number of 
plants reared from the seed, a few are found 



( 22 ) 

that equal or excel the parent. Florists con- 
sider themselves as fortunate if, among a 
thousand Hyacinths or Tulips, they obtain 
three or four deserving of notice. 

The young Olives begin to yield fruit the 
tenth or twelfth year, and are fully produc- 
tive about the twenty-fifth or thirtieth : thus 
Hesiod's observation, that no man gathers 
fruit from an Olive of his own planting , 
must be admitted with the abatements of 
poetry. 

A second method of forming a nursery, 
which has been successfully adopted near 
Toulon , is by transplanting the. young wild 
Olives. 

The ancients relied principally upon pro- 
pagation by slips, 1 and this easy and expe- 
ditious mode is still generally followed in 
Spain. A smooth, thriving sprout or branch , 
one or two inches in diameter, is cut into 
pieces twelve or fifteen inches long, which 
are carefully set, without wounding the bark, 
in ground prepared as for the seed. They are 
placed at the distance of three feet, and at 



1 See Geopon. , lib. ix , cap. v. 



( 23) 

such a depth that three inches only appear 
above the surface. To encourage the forma- 
tion of roots , the larger end , which is com- 
mitted to the earth , should be smeared with 
a composition of mould and animal manure, 
and the end which is exposed to the air should 
be protected by a covering of clay. Cuttings 
of the roots , also , buried in an inclined po- 
sition in trenches four inches deep, will 
sprout in the course of the year ; a few 
months later the feebler stocks are plucked 
up , and the more vigorous ones are left at 
the distance of three feet. Another easy re- 
source is £ound in the shoots that spring up 
round the base of an old Olive , or from 
roots laid bare and wounded for this pur- 
pose. 1 

It is necessary, in every case , to ascertain 
the point at which the original stock was 
grafted. The offspring is invariably identical 
in its nature with that part of the parent 
tree from which it was separated ; it requires 
grafting, therefore , if it was detached from 

1 Prizes have been repeatedly offered by the Agricultu- 
ral Society of Paris , for the best essays on the formation 
of olive-nurseries. 



> 



( H ) 

a point below the insertion of the graft , or 
from a tree which had not submitted to this 

process. 

All these operations are performed at the 
close of winter or the opening of spring. 
The length of time which the young plants 
should remain in the nursery, varies with 
their size and strength ; but it rarely exceeds 
four or five years. During this period the 
ground should be kept mellow and clean, 
and occasionally watered in the summer, if 
the season is dry. But this indulgence should 
not be prodigally bestowed : vegetable as 
well as animal and moral life , is susceptible 
of habitude. For this reason it is also an im- 
portant precept in the formation of nurse- 
ries, to select a soil analogous to that in 
which the trees are to reside. If the young 
plant is lavishly supplied with nutritious 
juices, its pores become distended, its fibres 
gross , and its vegetation luxuriant. Super- 
fluous enjoyments easily become necessaries 
of life ; hence , when it is removed to a dif- 
ferent scene , and condemned to struggle for 
existence in an ungrateful soil, it loses heart 
and perishes where it might have been long- 



( «5 ) 

lived and fruitful, if its temperament had 
been hardened by early privation. — Thus it 
fares , if I may be pardoned the reflection , 
with the mind of an ingenuous youth, which, 
under better influences , might have been 
formed to virtue. If the lesson of disinterest- 
edness had been early inculcated , it might 
have been indelibly learned ; he might have 
been lead to sacrifice fame to humanity, as 
unhesitatingly as he sacrifices pleasure to 
fame. But, instead of being taught to consult 
only the unchanging principles of rectitude , 
and to be satisfied with the pleasures of be- 
nevolence, he is sedulously inspired with the 
love of glory ; his ambition is fomented till 
this ungenerous passion assumes the ascend- 
ant in his breast , and becomes the arbiter of 
his existence. 

When the nurselings are arrived at a 
proper age, the next step is to transplant 
them to the olive-yard. The task of preparing 
the ground for their reception should be 
begun immediately after the harvest. Holes 
or trenches, at least three feet wide, arc 
dug, and left mouldering till the close of 
winter, which is the season for transplanting 



( 26 ) 

the Olive. The stock and principal branches 
are lopped, and the wounds are covered 
with clay ; but as much of the roots as pos- 
sible should be preserved , with the earth 
adhering to them. When the trees are car- 
ried to a distance , which may be done with 
the precautions that are used for other fruit 
trees, they should be set during several hours 
in water, before they are replaced in the 
ground. Mellow, fertile mould should be 
spread upon the bottom of the holes, and 
thrown first upon the roots, among which 
the earth should be lightly forced, though it 
is not useful to render it compact, nor to 
heap it about the trunk. A copious watering 
follows, and is repeated in the course of the 
season, as the weather and the health of the 
plant may require. 

The Olive, arrived at an advanced age, 
may be transplanted in the same manner as 
the young tree. In general, whatever vege- 
table is to support this trial, the most im- 
portant precept is that the earth be widely 
broken up and minutely subdivided , so that 
the roots may be placed in their natural po- 
sition, and that their first efforts to extend 



C 27 ) 

themselves may not be embarrassed by com- 
pact masses, which they penetrate with dif- 
ficulty, and from which they derive a scanty 
subsistence. 

The Olives should be planted at such a dis- 
tance that they may not interfere with each 
other, and that every portion of the soil may 
contribute to their nourishment. In meager 
lands from which no other produce is exact- 
ed, eighteen or twenty feet are enough ; but 
in vineyards or corn -lands they may be 
thirty-five or forty feet apart. Cato assigns 
twenty-five or thirty feet, which, as a mean 
term, is sufficiently exact. In warmer cli- 
mates, certain varieties attain such dimen- 
sions as to require a space of sixty or seventy 
feet. 

Our olive-yard being thus formed, our 
next enquiry is concerning the culture ne- 
cessary to obtain the most certain and the 
most abundant produce. Virgil, after des- 
cribing the assiduous attention exacted by 
the Vine, leaves the Olive almost to Na- 
ture : 

Contra non ulla est Oleis cultura : neque illce 
Procuivam expectant falcem, rastrosque tenaces, 




( 2 8 ) 

Cum semelhceserunt aivis , aurasque tulerunt. 
Ipsa satis tellus , cum dente recluditur unco , 

Sufflcit humorem 

Via. Geor. II. 

Not so the Olives : when their roots have found 
The needful moisture from the nurturing ground , 
And, firmly seated, can securely bear 
The summit tempted by the sportive air, 
No more the harrow nor the knife they ask — 
The plough completes, alone , the easy task. 



Columella, on the contrary, advises the 
husbandman to bear in mind a judicious pro- 
verb : Eum, qui aret olivelum , rogare fruc- 
tum ; qui stercoret, eccorare; qui ccedat, co- 
gere. It is true the Olive does not become 
barren when totally abandoned; but, like 
other vegetables, it repays the neglect of the 
husbandman with a diminished produce, and 
his care with larger and more abundant 
fruit. 

In Provence it is customary to turn the 
soil in the spring and in the fall. Besides the 
tillage of the plough , the ground should be 
carefully dressed with the spade about the 
foot of each tree. More labour is required 
by some soils than by others ; a compact, 



/ 



( 29 ) 

argillacious loam must be more frequently 
turned than a light, calcarious mould. 

The olive-yard should be manured at least 
once in three or four years ; but it would be 
more beneficial to sustain its strength by 
moderate annual supplies. Most species of 
manure, while they increase the produce of 
the Olive , impair the quality of its fruit ; 
the finest oil is made from wild trees grow- 
ing in calcarious lands of moderate fertility. 
Vegetable substances are preferable to ani- 
mal manures for fruit trees in general, and 
especially for the Olive and the Vine. When 
animal manure is employed, it should be 
tempered with marl, sea-weed, leaves, etc., 
and applied only when the whole is reduced 
to mould. To soils deficient in this ingre- 
dient, calcarious matter is of the utmost 
utility, and great benefit is said to be found 
in Spain from sea-water poured upon the 
roots of the Olive. 1 But the finest manure is 
the offals of the fruit that has been pressed, 

1 For other particulars of the practice in Spain, see the 
Seminario de la Cultura a los Parrocos , by Don Anto- 
nio Melon, an enlightened Spanish ecclesiastic. 



\ 



( 3o ) 

and the washings of the utensils and the oil- 
vessels. 

The manure is spread in the fall, in the 
winter , or before the tillage in the spring. 
Its effects are most sensible when it is ap- 
plied at the beginning of winter, as during 
this season, its virtues are imbibed by the 
soil, and communicated to every fibre of the 
roots. Through the spring and summer, on 
the contrary, it sometimes remains nearly 
inert beneath the surface. But in climates 
where the Olive is liable to injury from cold, 
the most serious accidents are to be feared 
from keeping its roots too warm in the win- 
ter ; its vegetation being in this manner 
quickened, so that the sap is set in motion 
by every genial sun that softens the bosom 
of Nature , it is exposed to the most immi- 
nent danger from the returning frost. The 
fatal effects of cold are frequently less attri- 
butable to its intensity than to its sudden- 
ness : a plant which has become relaxed by 
the tepid breath of a deceitful Zephyr, is sur- 
prised and killed by the frozen blast of the 
north wind. To maintain an even temper- 
ature at the roots during the winter, earth 



( » ) 

should be heaped about the base of the trees, 
and the manure should be spread early 
enough in the fall to assist them in ripening 
their fruit and preparing the bloom of the 
succeeding year, or late enough in the spring 
to avoid the accidents of frost. The Greeks 
do not make use of manure, except when 
chance conducts a flock of sheep to the foot 
of an Olive , which immediately becomes 
conspicuous by a richer vegetation. 

When substances proper for manure can- 
not be obtained in the requisite abundance, 
the deficiency may be supplied by sowing 
grasses or cereal plants, and ploughing in 
the green herb. The intelligent cultivator is 
aware that he thus not only renders back 
what was extracted from the earth, but, as 
vegetables imbibe nourishment from the at- 
mosphere , and as their roots arrest nutri- 
tious particles which would have escaped by 
filtration or evaporation, that he enriches the 
soil by an accession of new matter. 

Vegetable chemistry has probably impor- 
tant secrets to reveal in this part of practical 
agriculture. As a soil may be exhausted by the 
continued growth of the same plants while it 



C 32 ) 

is still capable of bearing those of another 
genus, we should examine the nature of the 
particles consumed by different vegetables , 
in order to repair the waste by analogous 
supplies. 1 

The most glaring imperfection in the agri- 
culture of those parts of France which I have 
visited , is the deficiency of manure. The 
number of cattle on the soil of the kingdom 
is unequal to its wants; and the modes of 
supplying the deficiency of animal manure 
are not generally understood. Where the 
species of husbandry admits of rotation, a 
field is sometimes exhausted by the repetition 
of the same crop , and left to recruit itself 
by a period of absolute repose; and in Lan- 
guedoc the vineyards are often prematurely 
destroyed, that the soil may recover heart 
by lying fallow, or by the substitution of 
some other culture. 

In some parts of France agriculture has 
made approaches to perfection ; but the zeal 
of improvement is not widely diffused. Agri- 
cultural societies exist in almost every de- 



1 See Davy's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry* 



(33 ) 

partment , whose labours are seconded by 
the ardour of enlightened individuals; but 
great meliorations must spring from a gene- 
ral spirit of emulation, which it is not easy 
to awaken. The French , notwithstanding the 
rapidity of their conceptions , are a passive 
people j tenacious of routine. The number of 
liberally educated men who unite a taste for 
rural life with a fortune sufficient for expe- 
rimental farming , is comparatively small. 
The gentry of France rush into the capital to 
escape from ennui , as, in the noble days of 
chivalry, the defenceless inhabitants of the 
champaign fled into the castles , at the ap- 
proach of some plundering knight or lawless 
baron. The inspired twilight of their native 
groves is forsaken for the luxurious shades of 
the royal gardens, and the simple indepen- 
dance of rural life , for the gilded servitude 
of the court. Existence has a charm only in 
Paris; those who cannot reside in the metro- 
polis, hurry into the provincial capitals to 
attend the levee of the prefect, and prefer 
bending in the saloon of this humble repre- 
sentative of royalty, to dispensing instruc- 
tion and happiness among their dependants 



( 34 ) 

at home. What place should a man solicit, 
before his country invites his services, who 
can breathe an untainted air upon his own 
estate? — Nor have the French, in appreciat- 
ing the dignity of agriculture, modelled their 
taste upon that of the ancien ts , as scrupul- 
ously as in their literature : under the former 
monarchy, rural employments were consi- 
dered as degrading to a gentleman. 1 

1 Respect for the useful arts has long been taking place 
of admiration for the frivolous accomplishments of the 
ancient court, and it will finally dissolve the charm of 
military glory. I am aware, also, that the present court is 
not brilliant, but the cause is less simple and profound 
than a thorough renovation of the public character. 

I speak on this subject, however, without pretentions 
to authority, and am farther than any man from meaning 
to affront the gallant and amiable French. Who can for- 
bear admiring the constancy with which they have adhered 
to the legitimate principles of the revolution, through an 
anarchy the most terrible , and a despotism at once the 
most splendid and the most liberal of modern ages! 

France was never more truly great than in her volun- 
tarv humiliation ; her prospects were never brighter than 
in the midst of her adversity. Though vestiges of arbitrary 
power in every branch of administration remind her that 
she has always had a government of men and not of 
laws, public opinion is advancing with inevitable steps; 



( 35 ) 

Though these reflections were doubtless 
more applicable before the revolution, and 
even before the restoration of the throne, 
they are still, to a certain degree, just.— But 
let me not lightly reproach an august nation 
with faults to which a corrective has been 
applied , radical in its effects , though neces- 
sarily slow in its operation. They will disap- 
pear as its institutions become more popu- 
lar, so that public consideration shall be ob- 
tained by public services , and not by the fa- 
vour of the great. Experience has not been 
thrown away upon the French people ; they 
are forming a national character, in whose 
splendour, the glory by which they and Eu- 
rope have been dazzled, will be swallowed 
up and lost. Their liberty was planted amid 
storms that threatened the social world with 
dissolution; it has resisted the hostile in- 
fluence of every element, and it will rise 
and spread itself, ample and strong , till it 

and the misguided sovereign who should seek to arrest 
its progress, would be treated, not like Charles I and 
Louis XVI, but like James II. 

One of the greatest benefits of the revolution is to have 
obviated the necessity of future violence. 

3. 



( 36) 

overshadows this happy country , and till its 
roots pierce the soil of distant lands. England 
herself, if she does not rise up betimes, and 
assert the reforms that have become vitally 
necessary to her constitution , may take les- 
sons from her rival widely different from the 
contrasts with which she has been wont to 
feed her pride. 

The remaining part of the cultivation of 
the Olive is pruning. Bernard informs us that 
this practice was but lately introduced into 
Provence , and that it is not universally 
adopted, nor reduced to correct principles 
and uniform rules. In some places a limb is 
lopped away every year to renew the wood ; 
but this is an injudicious mode , as the suck- 
ers to which it gives birth engross the sap, 
to the prejudice of the productive branches. 
Pruning consists in cleansing a tree from 
dead wood and other impurities, which may 
be done at all seasons and by the simplest 
hand; and in retrenching its superfluous 
growth, which is a delicate operation, and 
requires judgment and experience. Its object 
is to determine the form of the tree, to open 
it to the light and air, and to regulate its pro- 



( 3 7 ) 

duce. This is done by diminishing the num- 
ber of branches, and by extirpating such as 
are too feeble or too luxuriant. The pruning 
of the Olive is subject to the general prin- 
ciples of the art, modified by the peculiar 
nature of the tree. A part of its branches 
should be curtailed every year, and the num- 
ber of bearing shoots determined , so that 
it may not be exhausted by its fruit. After 
twelve or fifteen years, one or two of the 
principal limbs may be lopped ; and at in- 
tervals, which must depend upon the condi- 
tion of each tree , the whole summit may be 
retrenched. The most favourable season for 
pruning the Olive is in March. 

Such is, summarily, the husbandry of 
Provence, which, though susceptible per- 
haps of improvement, is the most perfect 
in Europe. 

More than thirty varieties of the Olive 1 are 

1 The most exact and extensive catalogue is found in 
the New Duhamel. The following are some of the most 
esteemed varieties : 

i. The Olivier pleureur , Olea craniomorpha , four- 
teenth variety, is one of the largest and finest trees. Its 
branches are redundantly numerous, and pendant li&c 



( 38 ) 

known in France , which are distinguished 
by their size , by their temperament as to soil 
and climate , and by the qualities of their 

those of the Weeping Willow. Its fruit is good for the 
table , and yields a pure and abundant oil. It should be 
placed in vallies rather than on elevated grounds, as it 
has more to apprehend from drought than from cold : 
there are individuals of this variety in Languedoc that 
have three times survived the general destruction of the 
Olives by frost. 

2. The Olivier a fruit arrondi, Olea sphcerica, 
twenty-sixth variety, is also among the least sensible to 
cold. It requires moisture, a good soil, and abundant ma- 
nure. Its oil is of a superior quality. 

3. The Olivier de Lucque, Olea minor Lucensis , 
ninth variety, is hardy, and yields a fruit proper for pre- 
serving. 

4.. -5. The Aglandaou, Olivier a petit fruit rond, 
Olea fructu minor e et rotundiore , third variety, and the 
Olivier de Salon, Olea media fructu subrotundo, nine- 
teenth variety, are good for oil, and prefer dry and ele- 
vated grounds. 

6. The Olivier amygdalin, Olea amygdalina, twenty- 
fifth variety, is much esteemed about Montpellier for its 
fine and abundant oil. 

7. The Picholine, Olea oblonga, eleventh variety, 
yields the most celebrated pickled olives. This variety is 
not delicate in the choice of soil and climate. 



( 3 9 ) 

fruit. Some of these varieties, like those of 
the Vine, owe their characteristic properties 
to the scene in which they are reared. 

The principal product of the Olive is oil , 
but the pickled fruit is also a valuable article 
of commerce. The simplest manner of pre- 
serving the green olives, is by covering them 
with a solution of common salt impregnated 
with fennel, cumin, coriander-seed and rose- 
wood. The most perfect method is that em- 
ployed for the picholines of Provence, which 
are so called from Picciolini, by whom the 
process was invented. They are gathered in 
the beginning of October, 1 and the finest of 
them are selected and thrown into a weak 
solution of soda or potash rendered caustic 
with lime. In this solution they remain eight 
or ten hours , till the pulp ceases to adhere 
to the stone : they are then steeped, during 
a week, in pure cold water, daily renewed, 
and are afterwards transferred to an aro- 
matic brine. Such of them as are destined for 

1 The Greeks leave them on the trees till they are ripe ; 
they are less agreeable to the taste at first, but after 
a little use are found more rich and savoury than those of 
Provence. 



( 4o ) 

the tables of the luxurious, are taken out 
after a certain time , deprived of the stone , 
in place of which is substituted a caper or a 
bit of trufflle, and closed up in bottles of the 
finest oil. In this manner they are kept pa- 
latable for two or three years. The sweet 
olive of the ancients, which was eaten with- 
out preparation , is said to exist in the king- 
dom of Naples. 

The proper season for gathering the olives 
for the press, is the eve of their maturity, 
which varies in different climates and in dif- 
ferent varieties of the Olive, but which is 
easily distinguished by the colour of the fruit. 
Two powerful considerations should engage 
the cultivator not to delay the olive-harvest. 
We have already observed that the produce 
of this tree is alternate : the phenomenon , it 
is true, is more uniformly witnessed in some 
varieties than in others ; but it might be as- 
sumed as a constant character, if it was not 
proved by experience to depend upon acci- 
dental causes. It has been attributed to the 
injury sustained by the trees in beating off 
their fruit ; but it is not observed in some 
places where this practice prevails, and is 



C40 

constant in others, where it is discarded. It 
has |also been ascribed to injudicious prun- 
ing ; but it is witnessed alike in olive-yards 
pruned in the most opposite modes , and in 
those that are unconscious of the knife. The 
little fruit that is borne in the year of repose 
is also of an inferior quality. Some other ex- 
planation must therefore be sought, and a 
satisfactory one is indicated by Pliny ; in the 
continuance of the fruit upon the branches 
after its maturity : Hcerendo , enim , ultra 
suum tempus , ahsumunt venientibus alimen- 
tarn. This cause, which is generally admitted 
by vegetabJe physiologists in France , has 
been developed by Olivier in a Memoir pre- 
sented to the Economical Society of Paris. 
Evergreen trees , and among them the Olive, 
put forth the young shoots that are to bloom 
the succeeding year, not in the spring, like 
trees with deciduous leaves , but at the close 
of .summer ; and the buds are prepared dur- 
ing the autumn and the beginning of winter. 
If, then, the tree is overladen with fruit, 
this second growth is prevented, and the 
hopes of the following season are precluded; 
or if the fruit is left too long upon the bran- 



( 42 ) 

dies, it diverts the juices which should be 
employed in the preparation of the flower- 
buds. At Aix, where the olive-harvest takes 
place early in November, it is annual and 
uniform; in Languedoc, Spain, Italy, etc., 
where it is delayed till December or January, 
it is alternate. The quality of the oil, also, 
depends upon gathering the fruit in the first 
stage of its maturity. It should be carefully 
plucked by hand, and the whole harvest com- 
pleted , if possible , in a day. To concoct the 
mucilage, and allow a part of the water to 
evaporate, it is spread out, during two or 
three days , in beds three inches deep. 

The oil-mill retains nearly its primitive 
form ; it consists of a basin raised two feet 
from the ground , with an upright beam in 
the middle, round which a massive mill- 
stone is turned by water or by a beast of 
burthen. The press is solidly constructed 
of wood or of cast iron, and is moved by 
a compound lever. The fruit, after being 
crushed to a paste, is put into sacks of coarse 
linen or of feather-grass, and submitted to 
the press. The virgin oil , which is first dis- 
charged, is the purest, and retains most sen- 



( 43 ) 

sibly the taste of the fruit. It is received in 
vessels half filled with water , from which it 
is taken off and set apart in earthen jars. To 
separate the vegetable fibres and other im- 
purities, it is repeatedly decanted. When the 
oil ceases to flow , the paste is taken out and 
broken up. As the sacks are returned to the 
press, boiling water is shed over them, and 
the pressure is redoubled, till every particle 
of the oil and water is extracted. The mixture 
is left in a vat, from which the oil is taken 
off as it rises to the surface. This oil, though 
less highly perfumed, is nearly as fine as the 
first, and is usually mingled with it. The off- 
als of the fruit are sometimes submitted to a 
third process : in a basin into which a rill of 
pure water is admitted, they are ground 
anew; the skins and mucilaginous particles 
floating on the surface arc drawn off into 
reservoirs , and the shells are preserved for 
fuel. The utmost cleanliness is necessary in 
making the oil ; with the nicest economy in 
the process, which is finished in a day, it 
amounts in weight to nearly one third of the 
fruit. The mean produce of a tree may be as- 
sumed, in France at ten pounds, and in Italy 



( 44 ) 

at fifteen; but single trees have been known , 
in the productive season, to yield three hun- 
dred pounds, 

The kernel of the olive affords an oil, the 
mixture of which with that of the pulp is 
said to injure its flavour and to hasten its 
rancidity. A machine has, in consequence, 
been invented for bruising the pulp without 
crushing the stone : that the arguments for 
its adoption have not prevailed over the es- 
tablished usage, is no proof of their unsound- 
ness; more convincing evidence is found in 
the exquisite quality of the oil of Aix. 

But there are abuses which experience has 
demonstrated, without being able to correct 
them : the fruit, after hanging too long upon 
the trees, is kept fermenting in heaps, to in- 
crease the quantity of oil , while the only 
effect is to vitiate its quality. 

Before the revolution , an apology was 
found for these abuses in France , in the em- 
barrassments to which industry was subject 
from the oppressive exactions of the feudal 
lords, and from the absurd interference of 
the government. The tenants were compelled 
to use the mills of the lord, which were 



( 45 ) 

never sufficiently numerous; and in Langue- 
doc the period of opening them was fixed by 
the police , as the time of collecting the gall- 
nuts is appointed by the Turkish Agas in 
Asia. The ancient practice is now gradually 
yielding to a more perfect method ; yet how 
slowly is prejudice subverted , even by in- 
terest ! 

Besides the finest oil which is used upon 
the table , immense quantities are employed 
in the making of soap, and for other mecha- 
nical purposes. A part of what is consumed 
in this way at Marseilles is imported from 
Greece and the Mediterranean Isles. 

I have thus rapidly sketched an outline of 
the history and cultivation of the far-famed 
Olive. — Among the gifts of Minerva which 
adorn our rising empire , policy, and arts, 
and arms, may we hope to see her favourite 
tree enrich our soil? Some light may be 
thrown upon this enquiry by an examination 
of our climate, but it can be resolved only 
by experience. 

The eastern and western shores of the At- 



( 46 ) 

lanlic Ocean differ essentially in the pheno- 
mena of climate. 1 In Europe the distribution 
of heat through the seasons is more uniform, 
and the medium of the year more elevated. 
This equability is highly favourable to the 
perfection of organized bodies ; hence the 
vegetables of America are meliorated in the 
corresponding latitude in Europe , while 
many productions of Europe cannot exist 
under the same parallel in America. 2 We are 
obliged, also, to migrate in the train of the 
Seasons in quest of an agreeable tempera- 
ture, which the more favoured Europeans 
enjoy without changing their native signs. 
We experience , in the same latitude , the 
summer of Rome, the winter of Copenhagen, 
and the mean temperature of the coast of 
Britany. Nor is this difference attributable to 
the state of cultivation, nor to any acciden- 
tal cause with which we are acquainted : in 

1 See De Humboldt's Memoir on the Distribution of 
Heat. 

2 Yet vegetation is more vigorous and more varied in 
the United States than in the same latitude in Europe. See 
Be Humboldt's Vegetable Physiognomy, in his charming 
work of the Pictures of Nature, 



( 47 ) 

the eternal forests that shroud our north- 
western coast we find again the delicious cli- 
mate of Europe, while Tarlary and China 
repeat the phenomena of our own. For the 
enjoyment of life and for the richness of 
agriculture , we should have been more ad- 
vantageously situated on the opposite side of 
the Continent. 

The Olive requires a climate whose mean 
temperature is equal to fifty-seven degrees 
seventeen minutes, and that of the coldest 
month to forty-one degrees five minutes. 1 In 
the United States, where the mean temper- 
ature of the year is fifty-seven degrees five 
minutes , that of the coldest month is only 
five minutes, with many days far more in- 
tense. The capriciousness of our climate is 
still more dangerous to delicate vegetables 
than its inclemency ; the difference of tem- 
perature in a single day is almost equal to 
that of the whole year, in the South of Italy. 
The Olives near Charleston were rendered 
barren by the vernal frosts, which congealed 

1 See De Humboldt's Essay on the Geographical Dis- 
tribution of Plants. 



( 48 ) 

the young shoots. In a more southern latitude 
they would be secure in the winter, but they 
would languish through a sultry summer, 
unrefreshed by the healthful breezes which 
they respire on the shores of the Mediterra- 
nean Sea : they would , besides , find a sili- 
cious instead of a calcarious soil. 

But with all these disadvantages, tracts 
uniting the conditions necessary for the 
growth of the Olive may probably be found, 
sufficiently extensive for our wants. The pos- 
sibility of its flourishing on our shores has 
been demonstrated by at least one experi- 
ment. 1 While the Floridas were -held by the 
English, an adventurer of that nation led a 
colony of Greeks into the eastern province , 

! Mr. Warden has obligingly pointed out to me* proofs 
of its existence, before the middle of the last century, in 
other parts of the United States : See Burton's British 
Empire in America; l)u Pratz's History of Louisiana; 
American Husbandry, by an American, etc. The last men- 
tioned author asserts that it thrives well in the interior 
parts of Georgia. "The Olives of Louisiana, says Du 
Pralz, are of surprising beauty; the Provencal settlers 
affirm that they yield as good oil as in their own country, 
and the prepared fruit is found equal to that of Provence." 



(49 ) 

and founded the settlement of New Smyrna: 
the principal treasure which they brought 
from their native clime was the Olive. Bar- 
tram, who visited this settlement in 1775, 
describes it as a flourishing town. Its pros- 
perity , however , was of momentary dura- 
tion : driven to despair by hardship and op- 
pression, and precluded from escape by land, 
where they were intercepted by the wander- 
ing savages , a part of these unhappy exiles 
conceived the hardy enterprise of flying to 
the Havannah in an open boat. The rest re- 
moved to St. Augustine when the Spaniards 
resumed possession of the country. In 1787, 
a few decaying huts and several large Olives 
were the only remaining traces of their in- 
dustry. 

Louisiana , the Floridas , the islands of 
Georgia, and chosen exposures in the inte- 
rior of the State , will be the scene of this 
culture : perhaps it will be extended to some 
parts of the Western States. It has been hast- 
ily concluded that the Olive can exist only 
in the vicinity of the sea ; it is found in the 
centre of Spain, and in Mesopotamia at the 
distance of a hundred leagues from the shore, 

4 



( 5o ) 

The trial should be made in everyplace where 
its failure is not certain ; and for this purpose 
young grafted trees should be obtained from 
Europe, and the formation of nurseries from 
the seed immediately begun. 

The Olive is perhaps the most valuable , 
but it is not the only accession that might be 
made to our vegetable reign, if a more enter- 
prising spirit prevailed in our husbandry, 
and if establishments were formed for the 
reception of exotic plants. This important 
subject claims the attention of government : 
amid its labours for the promotion of com- 
merce and manufactures , why should not its 
fostering care be extended to agriculture ? 

The people of the United States, instructed 
by experience , have consecrated an altar of 
oblivion to the Genius of the waves and to 
the Genius of the soil. They will not allow- 
one system of industry to be promoted at 
the expence of another. We have solved the 
transcendant problem of reconciling the in- 
terest of the individual with that of the 
public , by throwing down the barriers to 
every species of industry, and by leaving 
every man to enjoy the fruits of his labour 



(.Si ) 

undiminished by the exactions of a rapacious 
government. Let these principles be the im- 
movable basis of our political economy. The 
height of prosperity to which we have attain- 
ed is doubtless attributable to the successful 
enterprises of our merchants ; and our com- 
merce should still be cherished and defended 
like the sacred soil of the Republic. But is 
not the moment arrived when we may begin 
to measure the greatness of our country by 
some other standard than simply that of 
Commercial prosperity ? With means so 
ample and unembarrassed , might we not 
give more activity and extension to works 
of domestic improvement ? Slavery remains 
to be abolished — education to be perfect- 
ed — a national character to be formed — 
our strength to be established on durable 
foundations, by the developement of our 
internal resources. Institutions should be de- 
vised, which, by assimilating the feelings of 
our citizens , may corroborate that union 
which is the bulwark of our national incle- 
pendance, without intrenching on those sub- 
ordinate sovereignties which are the guaran- 
tees of our political liberty. A taste for pacific 



( 5a ) 

glory should be inspired , and an impulse 
given to public spirit, in harmony with that 
magnanimous moderation which becomes 
the future arbiter of nations. 

From these great objects no schemes of 
vulgar ambition should for a moment divert 
our ardour. The influence of our character 
already far exceeds that of our strength , and 
our claims to the rank of a primary power 
are admitted by anticipation. The attention 
of the world is daily becoming more intently 
fixed upon our actions. Old Europe contem- 
plates us with reverent affection, as the hoary- 
headed warrior gazes on the blooming hero 
whose youthful achievements eclipse the glory 
of his sire. A great example is wanted by 
mankind ; from us they demand it ; and the 
cause of universal liberty is interested in our 
conduct. 

I do not utter these sentiments in the lan- 
guage of reproach. Much has already been 
done by my country, which is admired by 
contemporary sages, and which will go down 
with honour to a more enlightened and phi- 
losophical posterity : all that is great and good 
may be expected from her maturer wisdom : 



(53) 

but I feel interested in her glory - r she has 
risen upon my affections by absence, and 
upon my esteem by comparison ; her pro- 
gress , however rapid , halts behind the im- 
patience of my wishes. 

Our fathers have left us a noble inheri- 
tance , and it is our duty to improve it. What 
surer basis can we choose for national wealth, 
than a learned and enterprising agriculture? 
How can we more effectually strengthen the 
ties of interest that bind the extremities of 
our country in indissoluble union , than by 
augmenting the number and the value of their 
useful productions? How can the intelligence 
of a people be more favourably developed, 
than by an art which gives so wide a scope 
to comparative sagacity, and which brings 
its conclusions to the test of immediate expe- 
rience? Who are more likely to be devoted 
to their country, than those who have attach- 
ed the hopes of their children to its soil? — 
There is , besides , in the profession of agri- 
culture, something so congenial to republi- 
can manners, that we should naturally expect 
to see the freest country the best cultivated, 
Piemote from the contest of sordid passions, 



( 54 ) 

and surrounded by all that is necessary to his 
happiness, the husbandman has no induce- 
ment to calculate the interest upon political 
corruption A laborious life, spent in the 
open air, in the majestic presence of Nature, 
lends a corresponding simplicity and eleva- 
tion to his character. In public stations a 
patriot is often driven from his purpose by 
the jealous opposition of his rivals , or by 
the invincible prejudices of his age ; he must, 
at least, sacrifice his freedom to the duties of 
his office ; but in a life devoted to agricultu- 
ral improvement, the purest sources of ra- 
tional enjoyment are united : the first want 
of a generous spirit is that of being useful to 
mankind ; the second , is that'of liberty. 



FINIS. 



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